BCCI's decision to terminate DC upheld

There was no relief for the cash-strapped Deccan Chargers on Thursday as the Bombay high court quashed arbitrator's order for status quo on the BCCI's decision to terminate the IPL franchise.

NEW DELHI: There was no relief for the cash-strapped Deccan Chargers on Thursday as the Bombay high court quashed arbitrator's order for status quo on the BCCI's decision to terminate the IPL franchise.

Both BCCI and DC had agreed to take their dispute to an arbitrator and the Bombay high court had appointed retired SC judge Justice CK Thakkar as the sole arbitrator to go into the dispute.

The arbitrator had on Friday evening had the first preliminary meeting with both sides where DC lawyer made a representation seeking a status quo on the termination that would kick in as it had failed to get any further extension of time to furnish the bank guarantee to the Board.

The arbitrator granted a status quo at 7.30 pm which the Bombay high court stayed on Saturday on an urgent appeal made by the cricket board.

The IPL governing council had on Wednesday discussed various issues related to the termination.

The committee discussed in-depth the legal ramifications of the Deccan Chargers termination and about the future of nearly 30 cricketers (foreign and Indian) who have been left without a team due to this decision.

The BCCI is likely to encash the bank guarantee that is with them and pay the salaries of the former Deccan players and support staff.

The interesting aspect will be how the parent body absorbs these players in various IPL teams or the new team that will be playing in the cash-rich league next season.

There are a couple of possibilities one among which is increasing the number of players per team from 30 to 35 and then ask the existing franchises to buy out the remaining part of the contract.

The second possibility is to transfer all the existing DC players to the newly formed franchisee where there is a chance that they might ask for players of their choice.

Last but not the least is having an open auction next season where all the players will again come under the hammer save those who have used their 'Player Retention Policy.'